Words That We Couldn't Say
by Scatter Plot
Summary: A decision had to be made and so Riku made one. Now it's years later and she has to live with the choice that she made. Will she be able to face Dark again? [nonromantic]


**A/N: Teh short drabble. I don't know what I was thinking!**

**Disclaimer: I down't own D N Angel.**

She truly did love them both. She loved them more than anything, both beautifully and equally. What she didn't know was that to love them both meant to lose one. But that was all said and done- and oh so long ago. Memories forgotten and cast aside along time. In life there are many difficult decisions you have to make, choices that mold your entire life and she had chosen the path with unruly red hair and a warming smile. But she couldn't ask for a better life, she was happy. Riku lived out her days without remorse and she would continue to do so no matter how much things changed.

"Well hello there Mrs. Niwa," his voice carried its usual playful tone, masking an underline of pain.

Her limbs froze at the sound of the familiar voice, a voice she had not heard in over 20 years. The dish Riku was cleaning slipped slowly from her hesistant hands and back into the sud topped sink. Water spilled over the counter, dampering the front of her blouse, but she had yet to notice. Her attention was focused soley on the voice at her back and the memories seeping into her veins.

"Oh, silly me I forgot," she choked, honey colored eyes welling with tears, "it's my son's 14th birthday."

She didn't want to face him. She didn't want him to look at her; for him to see how old she'd become. She'd rather him remember her as the fiesty, young and atheletic Riku Harada than sobbing, old Riku Niwa. How could she look into the eyes of the man she rejected? How could she look into the eyes of the man she still loved?

"Normally I'd ask if you missed me," Dark sighed, propping against the frame of the kitchen door, "but by the looks of things, you've been too busy to. Wow and you're a mom too."

"Yeah, fourteen years now," she sighed dipping her hands back into dish water.

"Well the last time I saw you, you _were_ fourteen," he chuckled.

She didn't reply, she didn't have the heart to. Instead, she just continued her work as if he wasn't there at all. But she knew better than to act this way, she knew him better- Dark Mousy wouldn't be ignored. Eventually she would have to turn around and face him. She'd been stupid all this time to think that the memories would just disappear. That it wouldn't hurt anymore.

"Oh come on," Dark pouted, "don't be like that."

He approached her with heedful steps, the growing fear that she might throw a dish at him swelling in his chest. After all, it wouldn't be the first time she projected house hold objects at him. "The least you can do is treat me like a human being as opposed to some type of plague."

"It's not like that." He watched her shoulders quiver as she replied. He never anticipated that his return would trouble her this much.

His hand connected with the ball of her right shoulder with a firm squeeze, "Then what is it?"

She turned slowly, hands falling to her side as lukewarm water dripped from her finger tips. Hot tears running freshly down her cheeks, their eyes met for the first time in two decades. Riku's breath stopped mid-throat, he was still as young and beautiful as he'd always been. She knew he would be, but still it was amazing to see.

With trembling hand, she reached out to touch his face-- to see if he was real. Warm flesh connected beneath her fingers as she caressed downward, leaving wet traces along his smooth skin.

"You really are an angel," her words were just above a shaky whisper.

"Riku," the violet haired man breathed, silently wishing that things didn't have to this way.

Securing his arms around her waist, Dark drew Riku closer so that her head could rest against his chest. Running his hand lightly across her back, he reminded himself that he'd been waiting for this moment for so long. He thought he'd never get to hold her agian. But now...but now thing were different. Time had changed so much between them and he knew that things could never be the same no matter how much they worked to repair them. She could never be his--she never was.

"Our relationship may have changed, Riku," he kissed the her forehead, "but you always be the most important women in the world to me."


End file.
